About Us

Artifex Software began 24-years ago with Ghostscript, a page description language (PDL) interpreter software prevalent in printing and related applications requiring rendering and/or conversion from one software language to another. Founded by renowned computer scientist Dr. L. Peter Deutsch, our company has thrived on the basis of our sharp focus on this area of expertise, a zealous commitment to quality and a strong customer service orientation.

Company History

Roots in Open Source

Artifex has a long history of engagement with the open source software community. Ghostscript was first released in 1991 as a freely available open source (GPL) alternative to Adobe’s PostScript products and is now widely recognized as a premiere independent implementation of all the leading page description languages. In fact, a June 2016 report released by the PDF Association noted Ghostscript as the third largest creator of PDF files in the world, ranking only behind Adobe and Microsoft.

Known for their unique open architecture, availability of source code, responsive support and portability across an enormous range of CPU’s, operating systems and output devices, our Ghostscript and MuPDF software technologies have long been considered some of the best pieces of freely available software on the Internet.

Business History

Originally distributed only as a freely available end-user package, Ghostscript software became highly sought after by OEMs who wanted to license it for their own products. Artifex was created in 1993 to facilitate licensing of Ghostscript under commercial licensing terms.

Over the past twenty years, Artifex has grown its product line and built a strong reputation as a trusted creator, partner and provider of core technologies for document handling and management. We provide core technologies to nearly all major printer manufacturers, document management solution companies and PDF tools/creation solutions companies. With the addition of SmartOffice (mobile MS Office document viewing/editing app and SDK), Artifex offers a complete document ecosystem used by organizations ranging from Fortune 500 enterprises to developers and startups.

Global Service and Support

Over 100 OEM partners representing some of the biggest names in technology and related categories depend on Artifex technologies. We partner with leaders, building long-term relationships on the basis of its strong technical acumen, outstanding service and win-win relationship.

Artifex technologies are used to drive products and services as varied as printers, cloud solutions, mobile devices, embedded electronic devices … even locomotives and oil drilling rigs! If you have a product or service where document rendering or management is important, chances are we can help you.

A privately held company, we think of ourselves as “small, but mighty.” Our engineers are among the brightest stars in their respective fields of expertise, and we have an incredible track record of 94-consecutive quarters of profitability. Our headquarters are located in Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco. With teams located on three continents (U.S., Europe and Asia), Artifex serves clients on a global basis.

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We can help you find the right solution for your product, service or application.